


When Light and Darkness Near Each Other (Our Visions Begin to Blur)

by zainabmnsr



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Boys In Love, Crack, Crack and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Seungcheol just wants friends, angel! jeonghan, demon! jihoon, demon! joshua, lots of tears in chapter 5 and 6 ngl, no regrets lol suffer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:28:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21916024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zainabmnsr/pseuds/zainabmnsr
Summary: “Tell me human.” Jihoon mused, eyes growing darker. “What is it that you want? money? power? Fame? I can give you whatever you want, just say the word.”“No, I don’t want any of that.” the man sighed. He licked his lips, trying to find the right words before opening his mouth again.“I want a friend.” the man said finally.A minute of stunned silence followed, Jihoon staring incredulously at the human.“You summoned a demon because you want a friend?” Jihoon asked disbelievingly. “You realise I can give you whatever you want right?”“I don’t want anything else,” he said, brow furrowing stubbornly. “Do you agree? Will you be my friend?”“I’m Satan?” Jihoon says, trying to sound authoritative and scary but it comes out more like a question than anything else because this is the weirdest situation he’s ever been in.or in which Seuncheol just want a friend and decides to do the obvious and make a deal with a demon.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Yoon Jeonghan, Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 14
Kudos: 84





	1. in which Jihoon needs to get paid more for his job

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't been back in ages but this is an idea I've had in my head for over six months now. I'm so so proud to post it and i really hope yall love it.  
> Title from Heaven by Nu'est and Seventeen (Pledis needs to release a studio version or i WILL riot)

Jihoon exploded into the room in a flurry of darkness and smoke, finding himself in a colourfully decorated apartment. There was a man sprawled on the floor, probably having fallen over because of Jihoon’s entrance. With a note of annoyance, Jihoon realised he was standing in a circle of rock salt, effectively preventing the demon from moving around.

The man was still sprawled on the floor, curly black hair falling into his eyes, mouth open in shock. He was attractive – dark hair, muscular arms and laugh lines that were prominent even in his surprise.

“Huh.” he said finally, breaking the silence. “I didn’t really expect that to work.”

“You should be more careful when dealing with the underworld.” Jihoon said, voice dark and dangerous. “This isn’t child’s play.”

“You are a demon, aren’t you?”

Jihoon raised one, unimpressed brow. As if the jet-black eyes and the slight indents of horns on his head wasn’t proof enough

“Right.” the man muttered under his breath, “Of course you are. Never mind umm- “

“You’re rambling.” Jihoon commented, amused. Watching the little humans freak out was always the most fun part of his job.

The man shot him a glare. “Give me a second.” he muttered, running his hands through his hair. Jihoon smirked, sharp canines showing and enjoyed the way Seungcheol’s eyes widened in fear.

“I want to make a deal with you.” he said. “I heard that demons give humans whatever they want.”

“For a price.” the demon reminded him.

He saw the man gulp. “For a price.” he agreed, finally standing up and meeting the demon eye to eye.

“Tell me human.” Jihoon mused, eyes growing darker. “What is it that you want? money? power? Fame? I can give you whatever you want, just say the word.”

“No, I don’t want any of that.” the man sighed. He licked his lips, trying to find the right words before opening his mouth again.

“I want a friend.” the man said

A minute of stunned silence followed, Jihoon staring incredulously at the human.

“You summoned a demon because you want a friend?” Jihoon asked disbelievingly. “You realise I can give you whatever you want right?”

“I don’t want anything else.” he said, brow furrowing stubbornly. “Do you agree? Will you be my friend?”

“I’m Satan?” Jihoon says, trying to sound authoritative and scary but it comes out more like a question than anything else because this is the weirdest situation he’s ever been in.

He was not getting paid enough or this

“How about I summon one of my helpers to be your friend. Or I can make you one right now?” he suggested, plastering his best customer service smile on his face.

The man seems to consider it for a second, lips pursing in thought and then shakes his head, “No. I want you to be my friend.”

Jihoon sighed through his nose, and the man’s lower lip wobbled, “Don’t you want to be my friend?” he asked, eyes wide and sad and even Jihoon, the devil himself, couldn’t find it in his to say no.

“Fine.” he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air, “I’ll be your friend.”

Immediately the man’s face lights up, and he beams at Jihoon. ‘The guy’s a great actor’, Jihoon thought miserably, watch the human bounce in excitement. There was no hint of the sad man that was staring at him only seconds ago.

“Great!” the human exclaims, extending his arm for a handshake, “My names Seungcheol! what about you?”

“I’m Jihoon.” the demon replied, eying Seungcheol’s hand distrustfully.

He was a demon. He knew better than to accept handshakes form just anyone. Even if it was coming from a harmless looking human who probably thought that asking for too many free samples is an example of crime and theft.

Seungcheol hands fell back to his side slowly, and the silence stretched on.

‘None of my other transactions have been this awkward.’ Jihoon thought miserably. 

“Well”, Seungcheol asked, “what’s the price for it? Do I need to like- “the man trailed off, eyes widening in horror, “I don’t need to kill someone, do I?”

Jihoon was honestly at a loss of what to say. This wasn’t a demand he had ever gotten before, so he wasn’t sure what to demand from the human. Maybe he should play it safe and just ask for a part of his soul?

He definitely wasn’t being paid enough for this.

“I’m not really sure.” Jihoon admitted. “I’ll have to ask the higher-ups.”

The corner of Seungcheol’s lips twitched, like he was holding back a smile. “So, like, you’ll have to ask your manager? Or something?”

“No.” Jihoon insisted, glaring at the man. “It’s more of …” he trailed off. “Yeah okay, I’m going to have to ask my manager.”

Seuncheol opened his mouth, still smiling, but Jihoon cut him off. “Don’t.” he hissed. “The underworld is a very serious place.”

“I’m sure.” Seuncheol replied, that stupid smile still on his face. “You should probably zap back up there and figure this out huh?”

Jihoon glared at the man and the pointed aggressively at the circle of rock salt he was currently trapped in. 

“Oh yeah.” Seuncheol laughed, before using his toe to break the barrier. Jihoon considered attacking him just because the man was kind of an asshole. But there were serious laws in place for demons who attacked their clients and Jihoon really didn’t want to get suspended again. So instead, he settled on glaring at the man, before snapping his fingers and disparaging.

\-----

Jihoon landed right outside the Demon Consultants Agency in the underworld, wincing at the slight nausea that apparating into the underworld brought. He walked through the front door, right into his office where he sat back with a groan, rubbing his face.

What the heck just happened?

Was lee Jihoon, one of the most feared and well-reputed demons in The Agency, supposed to be friends with a human? out of contract? Was that Even _Allowed_?

What’s this kid deal anyways? Jihoon bemoaned to himself. who in their right minds wants to be friends with a demon? Usually, people tried to stay as far away from them as possible. But here was a freaking twenty-something-year-old man who’d probably give him a friendship bracelet the next time he met.

That’s just messed up. That definitely wasn’t normal

Joshua breezed into the office, his own jet-black eyes sparkling with mirth when he saw how miserable Jihoon looked. “What’s wrong?” Joshua teased. “Did you accidentally zap your iguana again?”

“That was _one_ time.” Jihoon grumbled. He had been late for work and decided that he’d just zap his trash away instead of throwing it away. It technically wasn’t allowed but well, Jihoon was a demon. but just as he cast the curse, his iguana, Loki, waddled right in front of his trashcan and got zapped away as well. Poor Loki, Jihoon though miserably. He didn’t deserve that.

“Seriously though,” Joshua sked, flopping down on the chair, “What’s got you so sour faced?”

“work.” Jihoon replied shortly. “Some guy made a deal with me and now I have to be his friend.”

“He asked for a friend? No way.” Joshua huffed and then paused when he saw the dark look that crossed Jihoon’s face. “Wait.” he said. “You’re serious?”

Jihoon glared at him. A stack of papers caught on fire.

“Well damn.” Joshua said, sitting back in his chair. He cast a lazy glance at the small fire that had started in the office, and suddenly the fire was gene and the papers were retrieved. Pristine and unscathed.

“Does he know that you’re a demon of hell?”

Jihoon huffed but kept glaring. “He makes me seem like an angel.” he grumbled. “Brat”

“It’s not that bad.” Joshua laughed. “It’s not like you accepted the deal.”

Jihoon stared miserably ahead. Joshua’s mouth dropped open.

“You made a deal?” he hissed.

“Listen,” Jihoon insisted, running his fingers through his hair. “He was very convincing.”

Joshua barked out a laugh. “Oh, this is priceless.” he mused. “So now you have to spend the next 50-so years on earth being friends with a human? That’s just hilarious.”

Jihoon glared at him again and Joshua clicked his tongue, smiling widely. “Don’t set something on fire again Jihoon-ah. This isn’t that bad you know; you could use some friends.”

“We’re friends.” Jihoon grumbled.

“True.” Joshua teased. “But we have known each other for other a thousand years so it’s not like I have a choice.”

Jihoon flipped him off, and Joshua laughed loudly, eyes crinkling. “What are you doing down here anyways?” he asked once he caught his breath. “Shouldn’t you be up on earth cosying up with your best bud?”

“I need to find out what payment to take from the guy.” Jihoon said, ignoring Joshua’s jib. “I have no idea what to do.”

“Well.” Joshua cocked his head to the side, “The handbook doesn’t mention anything about this. but it does mention that we’re supposed to ask for something that relates to what they ask for.” 

“What do you mean?”

“You really haven’t gone through the handbook, have you?”

“I’m bullshitting my way through this whole thing, my guy”

Joshua shook his head. “Basically,” he started, “we ask for something that has a connection to what humans ask for us. If they want us to save their sick lover, we take their life instead. If they want fame and power, we take a piece of their soul because fame and power always lead to corruption. In this case, he’s asking for your friendship and essentially, your time. So, ask him for something related to that.”

“So like, I have to take years off of his life?” Jihoon asked

“You could.” Joshua replied. “That would make you a terrible friend though”, he laughed. “You could just ask him for a piece of his soul as well.”

“If I take his soul, he’s going to spend eternity stuck with us as a demon.” Jihoon grumbled. “No thanks.”

“Think about it. You have till the end of the day to solidify a deal” Joshua chuckled, stand up. “As much as I enjoyed this, I need to go. I’m meeting Jeonghan for drinks later.”

“You know.” Jihoon called out, “you keep talking about this Jeonghan guy but you still haven’t introduced me to him. Doesn’t that make you a bad friend?”

Joshua shot him a wink, before turning around and walking away

“At least tell he which division he’s in? what kind of a demon is he?”

Joshua’s laugh reverberated through the room as he left, not even sparing a glance behind him.

\--

Jihoon stumbled into his apartment that evening, mind a mess.

After spending the whole evening doing paperwork and sorting out some of the other wishes he had to complete for his clients, he was bone tired.

But Jihoon knew that there was still one more client he had to take care of before he called it a day. He had gone through the handbook every spare minute he had had, and with a sinking heart, decided that he would have to ask for a part of the human’s soul. It would bind Seungcheol to Jihoon for eternity in the afterlife, just like Seungcheol was asking to Jihoon to be bound to him during his time on earth.

‘At least he’ll be a good demon’, Jihoon grumbled. He still remembered how the man had faked sadness to get him to agree. Jihoon didn’t even know that puppy eyes had such a strong effect on him, and was appalled to find out.

He prepared to apparate, deciding that this time, he wasn’t going to let the human get the better of him. Jihoon was a demon for god’s sake, seasoned and fine. A mere human was not going to get the upper hand in this situation, no matter how good of an actor he was.

Jihoon closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was in Seungcheol’s living room, a light queasy feeling washing over him.

Seungcheol was sitting on the couch, a slice of pizza halfway to his mouth, staring at Jihoon.

“You have to teach me how to do that.” Seuncheol muttered, and Jihoon couldn’t help but let out a little snort. He caught himself immediately, bringing himself up to his full height.

“Let’s talk business,” Jihoon said authoritatively.

Seuncheol raised his pizza slice, “its dinner time though.” he whined. He had some tv show playing on his laptop, a pizza box wide open on the table. “Sit.” Seungcheol sat, gesturing at the seat next to him. “You can have some pizza.”

That was how Jihoon found himself sitting sternly on the couch, listening to Seuncheol talk a mile a minute about his day. He couldn’t even cut in and tell him to stop, Seuncheol seemed to be immune to his glare.

“Why aren’t you eating anything?” Seuncheol asked finally. “Wait,” he paused, eyes going wide, “can demons even eat food? shit I’m so sorry, I’ve just been sitting here eating my papa johns and I didn’t even think of you.”

“I can eat pizza.” Jihoon said loudly, effectively cutting him off. “I’m not here for pizza though, I’m here for business. Besides, I’m not even hungry.”

Seuncheol opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by an embarrassingly loud ramble of Jihoon stomach

fuck

This would be a really good time for the underworld to swallow him whole.

Seuncheol bit his lip, holding back a laugh. 

“Shut up.” Jihoon muttered and grabbed a piece of pizza from the open box. He chewed angrily and then made a face. “I can’t believe you put mushrooms in this.” He muttered and Seungcheol let out a howling laugh, “What the fuck.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, Seuncheol teased in between bouts of laughter. “Mushrooms taste heavenly on pizza.”

“If you think _this_ ,” he gestured to the pizza slice, “is heaven then you’re so so far from the truth”

Seuncheol gaped, “Have you been there?”

“To heaven?” Jihoon snorted. “You do remember that I’m a demon, right? Or do the black eyes and horns not give you a hint.”

Seuncheol rolled his eyes, “no offence,” he said, taking a bite of his pizza, “but I totally thought you’d have larger horns.” Jihoon spluttered indignantly while Seuncheol continued on. “They’re kind of cute though, like little baby horns.”

“How is that not offensive?” Jihoon demanded, taking another angry bite of his pizza. Seuncheol giggled as Jihoon rambled on. “I’ll have you know that I have perfectly good horns. Only super high up demons get those scary-ass twisty horns that you’ve see on tv.”

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing him, “Whatever you say.” he said. Jihoon slumped back in his chair angrily. Stupid human

“At least I’m not the dumb human making a deal with a demon. And for friends, out f everything. Why don’t you just go out and make actual human friends?”

“You’re not trying to worm yourself out of this, are you?” Seuncheol teased, avoiding the question completely. 

“It doesn’t work that way,” Jihoon explained. “I agreed to your wish, which means I have to go through with the offer unless you refuse to pay up on your part.”

“Ah yes,” Seuncheol mused, “my payment. So, if I don’t pay, you’ll leave me alone?”

“Well, not really. We already have pact so if you don’t pay now, you’ll be hunted down by demons and killed. We both have to fulfil both ends of the agreement.”

“Sorry wait.” Seuncheol cut him off, “If I don’t pay up, I’ll DIE?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you explain this to me before?”

Jihoon looked at him, unimpressed. “You really made a deal with a demon without knowing anything beforehand,” he replied. “This is all on you, dumbass.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to die.”

“Calm down.” Jihoon snorted. “All you have to do is give up a piece of your soul. You’ll barely feel it.”

“You want my SOUL?” Seuncheol screamed. 

“You really didn’t do Any research huh?” Jihoon said, shaking his head. “Relax, it won’t affect you at all in this world. The only change is that after you die, you’ll be tied with me for eternity and you’ll become a demon as well.”

Seuncheol was frozen, taking in all this new info. “Right,” he said finally, taking deep breaths. “Tied to you for eternity. That doesn’t sound so bad you know,” he said looking up, a mischievous glint. “This way, we can really be _best friends forever.”_

Jihoon groaned, shoving a pillow in Seungcheol’s direction, the human laughing loudly. “You’re the first human I’ve ever met that’s making a joke at a time like this.”

“I’m special like that.” Seuncheol laughed. “Besides, the alternative to being a demon would be like, hell or heaven, right? I don’t really think I’m fit for the place upstairs so I’m technically dodging a bullet here.”

“Being a demon isn’t all that easy you know.” Jihoon huffed. “You’d be surprised at how much paperwork we have.”

Seuncheol chuckled and Jihoon felt strangely warm at that moment. There was a feeling of comfort spreading through him and maybe, just maybe, this won’t be so bad after all.

“Alright,” Seuncheol said, sitting up. “I accept the payment. Let’s do this.”

“Someone’s in a hurry,” Jihoon commented, but he stuck his hand out and Seuncheol shook it.

Instantly Seungcheol’s body stiffened like a shock was passing through him. His hair stood up at its end, eyes turning white and blinding. Jihoon felt it too, the rush of something that passed through his veins every time he made a deal, making his eyes darken. A second later, it was done, the bond complete. An arrangement made. Seuncheol slumped back, breathing heavily. 

“Damn,” Seuncheol commented, pulling his hand back as though it was on fire. “That was a lot more intense than I thought it would be.”

Jihoon shook his head, exparrated. Stupid humans.

“So that it? We’re ‘friends for eternity’ now?” Seuncheol asked, using air quotes.

Pretty much, Jihoon replied with a sigh, grabbing another slice of pizza Seuncheol flopped back onto the sofa, grabbing a slice for himself. They both sat chewing their food, lost in thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few notes  
> 1 - Loki is actually an iguana that my best friend owns but I'm really terrified of him lmao  
> 2 - the whole idea for this story came to me at like 3 am when I was supposed to be studying for an economics test. At least something good came out of school lmao  
> 3 - okay but jihoon trying to be all scary and authoritative and then Seung Cheol just smiles and jihoons like fuck it. Literally my favourite thing cause ??? its practically canon at this point ????  
> 4 - I actually really like mushrooms on pizza LOL. I wanted to make it pineapple on pizza but i wasn't ready for an actual war to break out in the comments so I played it safe. I fear pineapple of pizza lovers and pineapple on pizza lovers only.  
> 5 - “I’m bullshitting my way through this whole thing, my guy” - Not to be a Leo but I'm a genius for this line. 
> 
> As always, please drop a kudos and let me know what you thought of the first chapter. ill probably be uploading weekly but,,, let's see ;)  
> Find me on my stan twt and send me tik toks - [confused_cheol](https://twitter.com/confused_cheol)


	2. CHAPTER 2 – In which Jihoon tries to stay unfazed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way I updated on Thursday instead of Monday like I was supposed to ?? iconic. let's see how long it lasts lol

Two days passed uneventfully. Jihoon went about his duties as a demon and heard nothing from Seungcheol. It was almost too good to be true.

But the peace didn’t last for long. While filling in some paperwork about loose hellhounds, Jihoon felt the familiar queasy feeling that he always felt whenever he crossed the bridge between the underworld and the human world. Jihoon blinked and when he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in Seungcheol’s kitchen, pen still in hand. The other man was standing by the counter with a self-satisfied smile, holding a burnt match.

“Hey, best friend.” Seungcheol greeted.

“I think I’ve figured out why you don’t have many friends,” Jihoon replied.

“Mean.” Seungcheol pouted, throwing his burnt math into the dustbin

“I’m a demon.” Jihoon deadpanned

“And? What’s your point?” Seungcheol demanded, walking over to stand in front of Jihoon. He proceeded to wag a finger in the demon’s face. “You haven’t called or visited even once so far. Friendship requires effort from both sides you know.”

Jihoon resisted pointing out that this wasn’t friendship but rather, a business agreement. He didn’t say anything though, he couldn’t afford any bad reviews right now. Jihoon was really hoping to get a promotion into management so that he didn’t have to deal with common deal making anymore. But if the authorities caught though that he was incompetent, he’d never get anywhere.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” Jihoon grumbled, pocketing his pen. “So, any particular purpose that you called for?”

“Actually, there is. I had a great idea last night!”

Oh no

“How about we go to an amusement park tomorrow for some fun bonding time?”

Oh fuck no

“C’mon.” Seungcheol pouted dragging him over to the couch, “Don’t be so pessimistic. It could be fun you know.”

Jihoon highly doubted that. “Is there any way I can get out of this?”

“Nope,” Seuncheol said happily

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “What time?” he asked 

“I’ve got the day off tomorrow so let’s meet at 10 in the morning.”

Jihoon sighed. “Sounds good,” he said. “I have some more work to do tonight before I can call it a day so I need to get back.”

Seungcheol looked at him, beaming, gummy smile on display. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Sure,” Jihoon said, not letting Seungcheol say anything before teleporting back to his office.

They met at Seungcheol’s house the next day, Jihoon apparating in at 10:15, coffee in hand.

“You're late.” Seungcheol pouted and Jihoon waved the coffee in front of his face in explanation, causing the human to huff and roll his eyes.

“Does that stuff even affect you?”

“Not really, Jihoon admitted, but I like how it tastes. The fact that it’d make me late and annoy you was an added bonus.”

“You’re a menace.”

Jihoon shook his head. “Demon.” he said pointing at himself. He was surprised when Seungcheol huffed out a laugh, eyes fond.

“Let’s just go.” he said and grabbed his key before walking out of the apartment, Jihoon in tow.

“A car!” Jihoon exclaimed when he saw Seungcheol’s black Nissan. “That’s one of our inventions you know?”

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re the ones who came up with it. Well, our side anyways. The demons.”

“I don’t know what to do with the information,” Seungcheol replied, bewildered. They got into the car, Jihoon smirking all while Seungcheol turned on the ignition and started the car

“You see,” Jihoon started, “angels really one-upped us when they invented the wheel and the cycle. The kept boasting about it in our faces, those smug bastards. Told us about how they’ve invented something pure for ’the good of humanity’ Jihoon sneered. So, we came up with something that not only causes human pain and sadness by accidents but also makes them short-tempered and pollutes the environment all at once!” Jihoon finished proudly. “It’s one of our best works.”

“Right.” Seuncheol replied, wondering whether he should sell his car and buy a cycle instead. He imagined the look of horror on the demon's face and decided to buy one.

Jihoon fiddled with the radio until he reached a station that played jazz. “Perfect.” he declared.

“It’s terrible.” Seuncheol winced and Jihoon grinned up at him, taking a sip of his coffee

“Exactly,” he replied, eyes burning fiery red for a second.

The amusement park was loud and crowded and Jihoon wanted to leave as soon as he set foot in the place. He had a sudden sense of foreboding, a feeling in his gut telling him that this was going to end badly.

Or maybe that was just because Jihoon was terrified of roller coasters.

But Seuncheol was already dragging Jihoon by the arm in the direction of one of the biggest roller coasters in the area, and Jihoon felt his heart in his throat.

“I am NOT riding that.” he insisted, looking incredulously at the large ride. It was filed with free falls and loops, the screaming of children filling he air.

“You have to,” Seuncheol whined. “It's so much fun, I promise.”

“It’s a death machine.” Jihoon hissed.

Seungcheol looked at him for a second. “You’re scared.” he said.

“I’m _Not_ Scared.” Jihoon spluttered, “How dare you. I’m just not in the mood to see my whole life flash before my eyes.”

“It’s literally impossible for you to die but go off.” Seungcheol replied, grabbing Jihoon’s sweater and dragging him to the ride. 

Jihoon protested all the way until they were sitting in the ride, seatbelts safely fastened.

“You’re right”, Jihoon said. “It’ll be fine.” He looked around nervously. “It’ll be fine.” he repeated, sounding as though he was desperately trying to convince himself of that.

The ride started, moving slowly out of the covered entry area. Jihoon fingers tightened further on the handlebar. Seungcheol wondered whether he was too harsh on insisting Jihoon ride the coaster, but it was too late now. The ride was climbing up towards a tall free fall and Jihoon was clutching tight onto the bars, taking deep breaths.

“Maybe you should apparate out of the ride if you want?” Seungcheol asked, but Jihoon shook his head.

“I can do this.” he replied, almost stubbornly. He was a demon for god's sake. He could ride a roller coaster, no matter how big and scary it was.

But then the ride reached the top of the climb. Jihoon glanced at the lunge ahead, closed his eyes and screamed as loud as he could. There was a lurch as the rollercoaster tipped over and Jihoon felt his stomach flip. Eyes still closed and hands holding the safety bar impossibly tight, Jihoon's scream increased in pitch. 

He could hear Seungcheol's giddy laughter from beside him, so trapped in his own rollercoaster experience that he didn’t even notice Jihoon's terror.

“Shit shit shit, oh God please.” Jihoon muttered. The demon hadn’t said the G-word in over a century but here he was, calling out to anyone for help.

“Oh shit.” he heard from beside him. Seungcheol had evidently noticed his panic and was gently shaking Jihoon.

“Are you okay ?” Seungcheol asked

“NO.” Jihoon all but yelled, eyes still closed. “HELP ME.”

“Shit,” Seuncheol muttered. The wind slapped past Jihoon's face as the rollercoaster made another sharp lurch. “I'm so sorry Jihoon.” Seungcheol muttered, “Can you try teleporting out of the ride ?”

“I'm not doing anything right now.” Jihoon hissed, screwing his eyes shut tighter.

“Right, sorry. Shit, I'm so sorry. Just a little more hmm? almost done.”

Jihoon nodded and let out a yelp when the rounded another corner. But then he felt the coaster start to slow down and then, miraculously, it slowed to a slop.

“Jihoon?” Seumcheol said tentatively. “We’re done now. You can open your eyes if you want.”

Slowly, Jihoon opened his eyes, his surroundings coming back to him. He wasn’t propelled in mid-air on an 80mph ride, but on solid, stationary ground. The excited chatter of other people filled the room and he smelt the faint smell of too salty popcorn and sweet cheerios. Her hands were shaking slightly and he had to take a second to compose himself

“Are you okay ?” Seungcheol asked.

Wordlessly, Jihoon unfastened his belt, stood and up and walked away. Behind him, he heard Seungcheol scramble with his own belt and run to catch up with him.

“Wait!” Seuncheol called out. “Jihoon.”

But Jihoon walked on, out of the gates of the ride and into the crowded streets of the amusement park. He took a sharp left and walked into a relatively empty alleyway, Seuncheol tagging behind him.

The demon leant against the way, eyes closed, breathing slowly. He then opened his eyes and looked at Seuncheol with so much heat that the man crowed away a little, filled with shame and regret.

“Don’t you ever,” Jihoon spat out, “ever do that again. If I say no to something, you don’t force me.”

“I understand.” Seuncheol said softly. “It was a dick move, I’m really sorry.”

“Just because we have this kind of,” Jihoon flailed his arms around, thinking of the word to use, “ _arrangement_ , doesn’t mean you get to walk over me like that.”

Seuncheol didn’t say anything, eyes trained to the ground, he looked like a kicked puppy. Jihoon felt the anger draining out of him.

“If you want,” Seuncheol started hesitantly, “you can go home and get some rest. We don’t need to go through with this.”

Jihoon opened his mouth to agree with Seuncheol but then stopped short. He knew that in normal situations, he would have said yes and zapped out of there immediately. But he remembered how excited Seuncheol was when he was talking about this trip. Maybe it was because of their arrangement, but he didn’t want to disappoint the other boy.

Besides, it wasn’t like Seuncheol did those things just to fuck with him. It was a genuine stupid mistake and Jihoon smelt a thick layer of sadness on him.

“It's fine.” Jihoon sighed. “You probably spent a lot on those entrance passes. No reason to waste all that.”

Seuncheol looked up, eyes on the edge of hopeful.

“Don’t get all mushy on me now,” Jihoon grumbled, running a rand through his hair. “Let’s go.”

“Oh- yeah,” Seuncheol said eagerly, he stumbled forward, almost tripping in his haste. “Where do you want to go next?”

“The haunted house I guess?” Jihoon said. “It’d be entertaining to see what you little humans come up with.”

Seuncheol let out an excited shout, “I love haunted houses!” He exclaimed before running towards the ride, Jihoon walking along behind.

When they entered the haunted house, Jihoon scoffed at the choice of decoration.

“Cobwebs and amputated heads ?” he asked sarcastically, “Please. Hell has more class than that.” Just as he was making fun of one of the open coffins that were propped against the wall, a zombie jumped out from behind them.

A shrill shriek pierced the air and for a second, Seuncheol thought that it came from his own mouth. But then he saw Jihoon, who was grabbing his arm hard enough to bruise, looking around with panic.

“Jihoon,” Seuncheol asked, “you okay ?”

Jihoon looked at him, eyes wide and then seemed to realise what he was doing. He let go of Seuncheol like it burnt him.

“Ah yes,” Jihoon replied smoothly, letting out a cough. “Just sneezed.”

“That was your sneeze?” Seuncheol said amusedly, watching Jihoon nod fast.

“Of course.” He let out a nervous laugh, refusing to meet Seungcheol’s eyes. “That’s how demons sneeze. You silly human.”

With a fake scoff, Jihoon walked further into the haunted house. But before he could get very far, the same zombie jumped out of the corners again, right in front of Jihoon. Jihoon took one look at the creature, its ears bloodshed and mouth rowed with broken blood-stained teeth, and threw his arms out with a loud scream. The ‘zombie’ barely avoided getting smacked across the face by Jihoon’s panicked filing before jumping back into the shadows.

Silence settled across the room.

“Was that another sneeze?” Seuncheol asked with mock concern, a smile tugging on his lips.

Jihoon, still facing away from Seuncheol, sniffed “I think I might be catching a cold.”

“Didn’t know demons had the ability to get colds though,” Seuncheol commented.

Jihoon turned around to glare at him and then walked into the next room without a word. Seuncheol hadn’t even taken another step forward before he heard another frightened gasp from the next room. Then, he heard a very heavy thud before Jihoon called out from the other room; “Nothing to worry about, just another sneeze.”

Seuncheol walked into the room to find Jihoon sprawled across the floor, glaring at the fake spider that was dangling off of a thin rope.

Jihoon picked himself off the floor with all the dignity he could muster. “Fucking hate bugs.” He muttered as he waited for Seuncheol to stop laughing so that they could finish to rest of the ride and get this over with.

The rest of the haunted house passed smoothly – if one ignores Jihoon screaming and hiding behind Seuncheol every few minutes, much to his amusement.

The only jump scare that Jihoon hadn’t ‘sneezed’ in was one involving a demon. Jihoon took one look at the demon’s twisted tail and pitchfork, before angrily lecturing the poor thing about realism. “It’s like you guys aren’t even trying anymore” he spat out angrily, “I mean demons haven’t carried pitchforks since the 15th century. Do you know how dangerous those are?’. By the end of Jihoon’s rant, the ‘demon’ was a teary mess, bowing and apologizing the whole time Seuncheol dragged Jihoon to the next room. 

“I can’t believe you made him cry.” Seuncheol hissed

“And I can’t believe that humans still think demons use pitchforks.” Jihoon retorted back, causing Seuncheol to roll his eyes. “You all are clearly mocking us.”

Seuncheol refrained from telling Jihoon that no one actually used the word ‘mocking’ anymore. Instead, he just sighed and dragged Jihoon through the room with the floating decapitated heads.

By the time they had reached the end, Seungcheol’s sides hurt from laughing so much and Jihoon had a glare permanently plastered across his features.

Jihoon shot one last glare at the haunted house and Seuncheol felt the air around them grow warmer. But then Jihoon turned around, face masked in his usual indifference and then everything went back to normal.

Seuncheol was just glad that nothing had been set on fire.

“How about we try something more easy-going this time?” Seuncheol suggested. “Maybe,” he looked around, “the carousel?”

“How about I shove that entire ride up your ass.” Jihoon retorted sweetly

Seungcheol grinned back, eyes almost disappearing with how wide his smile was. “Sounds fun.” he retorted. “Your place or mine?”

Jihoon stormed away, muttering about how no one respected him anymore. Seuncheol followed, laughing the whole time.

“Let’s grab a snack.” Seuncheol said. “We need to have amusement park food.”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow, “You’re paying right?”

“Of course.” Seuncheol assured. He noticed the mischievous glint in Jihoon’s eyes but seriously, what's the worst he could do.

Ten minutes later, Seuncheol looked at the cashier in horrified silence when he told him the total amount.

“Can you.. can you repeat that again please?” Seuncheol asked. He had probably heard wrong

From beside him, Jihoon snickered.

The cashier gave Seuncheol a bored sigh. “That’ll be sixty dollars and fifty cents sir.”

Seuncheol knew that if he opened his mouth now, he’d most likely scream. So instead, he handed over his credit card in resignation. 

“Help me with these bags.” Jihoon told him. Forcing four bags filled with sugary sweet churros, candy apples, cotton candy ad ice cream into his hands, Jihoon grabbed the bags that held the pretzels, popcorn, corndogs and French fries and walked over to a nearby table, whistling.

Seuncheol turned back to the cashier, who was handing him his card and the bill. Just as he was going to leave, he caught sight of the most ridiculous, over the top, headband he had ever seen. He shot a look at Jihoon, who was happily unwrapping his food on the table (much to the horror of the people sitting around him because seriously, who buys that many corndogs) and an idea came to mind.

“Excuse me,” Seuncheol asked the cashier, “how much for those headbands?”

The cashier gave him a dull look as if asking him whether he was really going to spend even more money. But Seuncheol was too gleeful of what was to come.

\--

You should really try the corndogs, Jihoon said when Seuncheol sat, hiding a suspiciously large package behind him. Jihoon didn’t notice anything strange, too busy stuffing his face with food. Seuncheol wrinkled his face in distaste.

“Are you really going to eat all that?” Seuncheol asked, gesturing at the food piled up on the small table.

“Free food,” Jihoon said his response muffled. “Get the food you have out, I really want to try the cotton candy.”

“There’s no way you can eat all this.” Seuncheol muffled, unpacking all the food that he bought.

“Having a literal endless stomach has its perks.” Jihoon winked.

By the time fifteen minutes had passed, the table was empty of food and Jihoon was sitting back with a proud smirk, rubbing his stomach.

“I hope you get explosive diarrhoea after this.” Seuncheol muttered, having only eaten a single custard apple in the time it had taken Jihoon to finish everything else. “You’re a special type of evil.”

“And you’re a special type of dumb but I guess we’ve all got our talents.”

Seuncheol smiled slyly, remembering the headband he had bought from the store. “Jihoonie~ ” he muttered, fluttering his eyelashes

Jihoon frowned, “What the fuck did you just call me? And why are you doing that thing with your face?”

“I’m just smiling?”

“Cut it out, it's creepy as fuck.”

Seuncheol smiled even wider, “I have a present for you.” Reaching into the cover, he brought out the headband.(<https://www.pinterest.com/pin/562316703476407111>)

Jihoon didn’t say anything for a second. He slowly looked at the headband. Then at Seungcheol. Then at the headband again.

“Seungcheol,” he said finally, “I mean full offence when I say this; what the fuck.”

“I cant wait to see how it looks on you!” Seungcheol fake giggled.

“There no way you think I'm going to wear that.”

Seungcheol smirked. ”Oh I don’t know.” he said casually, “I bought this for you with my own money, you rejecting it would make you a terrible best friend you know?”

Jihoon was about to burn the monstrous headband but he suddenly understood what Seungcheol was hinting at. Thoughts about his upcoming promotion flashed through his mind. Somehow, Seungcheol had realised that if he made any kind of indication of Jihoon not keeping up his part of the deal, Jihoon would be in big trouble. 

Seungcheol held out the headband, “Don’t you think it's cute?” He asked, grinning widely

“I think its..” jihoon started. He made a choked sound of distress. “It's cute,” he said finally. He forced a smile and looked up at Seungcheol. “I can't wait to try it,” he said through clenched teeth.

Seuncheol moved forward and placed it on Jihoon's head, eyes glittering as he pulled back. “It looks adorable!” Seungcheol mocked. A slow evil smile stretched across his lips. “We have to take pictures.”

“Of course,” Jihoon said weakly, suddenly glad he was sitting down. “How could we not take any pictures.”

\---

The rest of the day passed by relatively uneventfully and Jihoon found himself actually having fun. They went on a few more rides and took a dozen pictures at the photo booths at Seungcheol's insistence and by the end of it, both Seuncheol and Jihoons sides hurt from laughing so much. As the day drew near to an end, Seuncheol looked at his watch and groaned.

“I have work tomorrow,” Seuncheol sighed, “I really need to head back.”

“I'll come with, drop you off,” Jihoon said easily without even realising it. Seuncheol looked surprised but Jihoon just shrugged. “Got through all this,” he teased, “I'm sure I can keep going for another hour or so.”

“Yeah ?” Seuncheol shot back, grinning. “I'll plan an even longer event for next time then.”

Chuckling, the two drove back in comfortable silence, making small talk and bickering about the music. Before they knew it, they were at Seungcheol's condo and Jihoon was walking him up to his flat.

“Hey,” Seuncheol said softly when they were outside his door. He turned to Jihoon, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. “I had a lot of fun today. I know you probably didn’t want to do this but, I'm glad you did.”

Jihoons eyes softened, a rush of affection rushing through him. “It wasn’t that bad,” he said, faking indifference, hoping that the dark hallway was covering up his blushing cheeks. Something about the usually confident Seuncheol being tentative and shy, playing with the hems of his sweater while the dim light from above cast soft shadows across his face made Jihoon want to capture this moment forever.

Seuncheols eyes crinkled at the corners, clearly seeing through Jihoons façade. “You know, for a demon, you're not that bad.”

Jihoon glared at him, “Say that again and ill literally shove my entire foot up your ass.”

“And id like it.” Seungcheol winked, laughing at Jihoon's surprised guffaw. Seungcheol turned around and opened up the door to his place, looking over his shoulder for one last, bemused look at Jihoon. “I'll see you around hoonie.” he laughed, before closing the door, leaving Jihoon blinking in confusion in the dark hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lets do this   
> 1- the whole thing in the beginning about jihoon appearing in Cheols living room and cheol was holding a burnt match,, I pretty much borrowed that concept from Goblin (the kdrama) and I remembered writing an explanation about in in the first chapter but I think it disappeared somehow so, this is just me clearing stuff up lmao oops. So basically, all cheol needs to do to summon cheol is to blow out a fire.  
> 2 - Jihoon showing up 10mins late with coffee is something hed totally do in real life ill fight yall about this.   
> 3 - Jihoonie being the demonsno1 supporter and enthusiast is my favourite thing. portraying the rivalry btw the angels and demons as some kinda crazy competition was SO much fun.   
> 4 - Seuncheol royally messing up w the whole rollercoaster thing was 100% intended for character development and stuff, not for comedy. sometimes, your characters have to mess up to really understand each other and I kinda used this as a way to set boundaries btw the two. Remember kids, if someone says they don't want to do something, DONT ever force them.   
> 5 - on a similar note the haunted house thing was 100% for comedic reasons and I stg I was laughing the whole time I was writing it.   
> 6 - yall have no idea how many stock photos of ridiculous headbands I had to go through before deciding on this one and tbh ? this one was PERFECT.   
> 7 - "I hope you get explosive diarrhoea after this.” Seuncheol muttered - LITERALLY MY FAV0OURATE THING EVER   
> 8 - I added a tiny bit of fluff in there but the REAL fluff is prob gonna be coming up next chapter lmao. 
> 
> As always, please leave a kudos and let me know what you thought in the comments !!! Your comments really make my day and motivate me to get chapters out faster so !!!! tell me what your fave parts were !!!!!
> 
> Find me on my stan twt @ [confused_cheol](https://twitter.com/confused_cheol)


	3. Chapter 3 - In which Jihoon grows soft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI IM BACK IM SORRY FOR DISSAPEARING. Uni started again and hhhhh help. im gonna keep updating but it probably won't be super regular but dw i plan on seeing this whole fic done. I hope you all enjoy this chapter !!!!!

Two months had passed and Jihoon warmed up to Seungcheol more with each passing day. After a long day of paperwork and dealing with Joshua ranting about the mysterious Jeonghan figure, Jihoon often dropped by Seungcheol’s place, feeling comforted in the other man’s presence. He didn’t dwell on the feeling for long, ignoring the way he sometimes saw Seungcheol’s bright eyes when he closed his eyes, or the way he felt warm whenever Seungcheol’s hand brushed against his.

Demons weren’t supposed to feel warm but here he was, getting butterflies over the way Seungcheol freaked out after eating slightly spicy kimchi and continues to pout throughout the whole evening until Jihoon walked to the convenience store and got him milk. 

So, when Jihoon apparated to Seungcheol’s room craving ice cream and the other man’s attention, he frowned when he heard other voices in the living room. Seungcheol barely ever talked about his other friends, let alone invited them over.

Curious, he tiptoed into the living room, trying to hide himself behind one of the potted plants. He frowned at the wilting plant and peered into the living room, where Seungcheol was surrounded by three other men, all excitedly jumping around him. Seungcheol was laughing loudly, thanking them.

“Happy birthday Seuncheol-ah!!” one of the boys hooted and a deep blush rose to Seungcheol’s face

… birthday? Jihoon was slightly offended that Seungcheol never mentioned a birthday to him. He scowled, debating what to get as a last-minute gift to him. But before he could apparate away, one of Seungcheol’s friends spotted him and let out a loud scream.

“BURGLER.” he hooted, pointing straight at Seungcheol and the dying plant that he was trying (and failing) to hide behind.

In hindsight, he should have chosen a better hiding place. The plant wasn’t even a big one for fucks sake.

Seuncheol, after getting over his initial shock, wacked the other guy on his head, causing him to wince. “What kinda burglar operates at 9 o clock, dumbass.” he grumbled.

“Who else could it be?” the another one of the men huffed. “It’s not like you have any other friends.”

“What the fuck?” Seungcheol spluttered. I have loads of other friends.”

His friends shot him an unimpressed look.

“Okay, not loads.” Seungcheol muttered. “But I do have other friends.”

“And he’s one of them?” The same man that called him a burglar before asked.

Seungcheol stared helplessly at Jihoon. “Yeah.” Seungcheol insisted. “He’s a friend of mine.”

The others looked at Jihoon again.

“Whys he dressed like that?” the man who hadn’t spoken till now said. He was tall, hair done in a mullet, dressed in dark leathers with rings adorning his hand.

Jihoon scowled at him. There was nothing wrong with wearing black sweatpants. And so what if he had a couple of breadcrumbs in his hair and a coffee stain on the bottom of his sweatshirt? He had had a hard day.

“HAHAHA,” Seungcheol laughed awkwardly. “You’re so funny Minghao.” He looked around nervously, “Don’t you guys think Minghao’s funny?”

One of Seungcheol’s other friends was biting down a smile, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about Hao,” he said kindly. “He’s just being prissy. I’m Seungkwan. Nice to meet you. And this is Vernon.” He said, pointing at the boy that accused him of being a burglar.

Jihoon awkwardly bowed in greeting. “I’m Jihoon” he said shifting from foot to foot.

“Well! It was nice that you guys came over but you need to leave now.” Seungcheol said with a strained smile. “I need to…” he looked around, lost. “I need to feed my fish”

“You don’t have a fish though?” Vernon asked

Seungcheol scowled. “I need to go buy a fish and feed it.” Seungcheol declared, causing Jihoon to snort in amusement.

“It’s okay Seuncheol,” Seungkwan said. “I know you think we’re dumb but we understand what going on here.”

“You do?” Jihoon spluttered, flailing his arms. Seungcheol looked like he was second away from passing out. 

“Of course,” Vernon scoffed. Minghao nodded from beside him. “It’s really obvious.”

“Its super obvious who you are.” Seungkwan said, pointing a dramatic hand at Jihoon.

Jihoon looked around nervously, making sure that his horns weren’t on show.

“Listen guys,” Seungcheol started “I can explain...”

  
“You’re his boyfriend.” Seungkwan finished with a giggle, the other two boys nodding along

Wait... what?

“YES.” Seungcheol yelled. “He’s my..” and then Seungcheol realized what he was saying. “He’s my boyfriend?”

“No wonder you’re dressed so casually.” Minghao laughed, talking to Jihoon

“And you showed up from the direction of Seungcheol’s room,” Vernon casually stated.

“We came here as a surprise to Cheollie and that’s why you were so surprised.” Seungkwan tutted. “You should have told us sooner” he chided at Seuncheol.

“I think you guys have the wrong idea.” Jihoon started but Seungkwan shushed him. Jihoon stopped abruptly. He had never been shushed down by a mortal before.

“We get it, you probably wanted to have some time to yourselves before you went public. It’s okay.” Seungkwan dragged Jihoon to the couch and Jihoon was too surprised at the turn of events to fight back.

“So,” Seungkwan said when they were all seated in the couches. “How did you guys meet?”

Jihoon looked at Seungcheol uncertainly. Seungcheol stared back.

Great

“Uhm, it’s a long story,” Jihoon laughed nervously. “We met in a..” he paused, not knowing what to say.

“Strip club.” Seungcheol piqued up, panicked.

The group, Jihoon included, turned to stare incredulously at him.

“A strip club?” Minghao asked. A beat of silence based before Minghao nodded. “We all have our urges.” he said, nodding sympathetically at Seungcheol, “it’s okay.”

“You’re not a sex addict by any chance, are you?” Vernon asked, genuinely worried. “I read an article on the internet the other day that guys who have too much sex end up with erectile dysfunct-“

“THANKS VERNON HAHAHA” Seungcheol yelled, mortified. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Jihoon facepalmed.

“Wait a second,” Seungkwan yelled. He looked at Jihoon, “So are you a stripper?”

Jihoon stared back, too shocked to come up with a reply

“No, I ...” Jihoon cleared his throat. “I’m not.”

Seungkwan nodded, letting out a heavy breath. “It’s okay of you are.”

“I’m not” Jihoon insisted, but Seungkwan shushed him again. Jihoon, taken aback, stopped talking.

“It’s okay.” Seungkwan said again. “We don’t discriminate on things like that.”

The other boys nodded

“Be careful of erectile dysfunction though.” Vernon advised seriously. “It’s serious.”

Jihoon nodded, mutely. Seungcheol looked like he didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or rip his hair out.

“Okay!” Seungkwan said loudly, “that’s enough questioning for now. We have a birthday to celebrate after all.”

The trio all stood up excitedly, buzzing about getting the cake, Seungcheol and Jihoon standing up slowly and walking into the kitchen with them.

Seungkwan and Minghao opened the fridge and pulled out a huge chocolate cake, the words “happy birthday cheollie” iced over it. Vernon and Seungcheol were busy grabbing utensils so Seungkwan called out to Jihoon

“Can u get the plates down?”

Right. The plates. He could do that

Except he had no idea where the plates were. Him and Seungcheol had only ever had take out whoever they had met and they always ate straight from the box.

“Sure.” Jihoon replied, forcing a smile.

He randomly walked to one of the cabinets, praying to Satan AND God that this was the right one. He opened the cabinet and stood face to face with rows of spices.

“HAH, you’re so silly Jihoonie.” Seungcheol said, panicking. He walked over to another cabinet and pulled out some plates. “He’s probably just tired,” Seungcheol told his friends. “He had a hard day at work today, uh, stripping.”

Jihoon shot him a glare. He cleared his throat. “Just a little tired, yeah.” He paused for a second. “Exhausted from Cheollies sex addiction, you know”

Seungcheol yelped, almost dropping the plate he was holding. He looked up at Jihoon, teeth grit, the tips of his ears turning red.

Jihoon quirked and eyebrow at him. ‘Now we’re even,’ he though

“You guys are so cute.” Seungkwan gushed. “It’s so great that you’re open about these things.”

Minghao agreed, “Communication is very important in a relationship.” He said seriously.

Seungcheol let out a chocked sound and Jihoon felt a little sorry for him.

“Let’s cut the birthday cake,” Jihoon said hurriedly, nodding at the thankful look Seungcheol was giving him. Cheers ran across the room and withing seconds, there were a couple of candles on the cake and Seungcheol was wearing a bright pink party hat, courtesy of Seungkwan.

They started to sing happy birthday, a blush rising on Seungcheol’s cheeks at the attention. In that moment, Seungcheol’s eyes sparkling, face illuminated by the candles, pink spread across his cheeks, Jihoon couldn’t help but think that Seungcheol was the most beautiful person he’s ever seen.

Seungcheol looked up and locked eyes with Jihoon and his breath caught in his throat. Neither of them broke their gaze and somehow, the loud ‘happy birthday’ being sung disappeared to the background. White noise. The kind of thing Jihoon always scoffed at in modern romance movies. Seungcheol and him were the only things to exist and Jihoon was overcome with a fierce sense of protectiveness and adoration. 

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” The other men screamed, breaking the moment. Jihoon turned away, cheeks quickly heating up. (Maybe if he was looking at Seuncheol, he would have seen the way that Cheol was still looking at Jihoon when made his wish and blew out the candles.)

When Jihoon turned back, Seungkwan and the other were crowded around Seuncheol, smothering him in hugs and spreading the cake icing on his face, laughing the whole time. Jihoon felt that warmth spread up in his chest again but pressed it down, shaking his head.

“Jihoon,” Minghao called out, still laughing, “Come join us.”

Jihoon grinned, grabbing a glob of cake and smearing it all across Seungcheol’s face, making the other three shriek in laughter. Seungcheol flailed his arms out but was too busy laughing to do anything except swat at him playfully, his eyes disappearing into little crescent moons.

“Happy birthday Cheol.” Jihoon whispered softly. But Seungcheol heard him and grinned up at him, hair falling into his eyes.

\----

The rest of the night was chaotic and loud but Jihoon found himself enjoying it. Everyone sat on the floor around Seungcheol’s small middle table in the living room, eating ridiculously unhealthy amounts of cake and talking and for the first time in a long time, Jihoon just let it happen. He didn’t try to keep up a cold image, or control anything. He broke into a duet with Seungkwan, discussed the possible existence of aliens with Vernon and Mingaho and teased Seungcheol about how his long hair made him look like a wet poodle. It was the most fun Jihoon had had in a long time.

So, when Seungkwan, Vernon and Minghao left, the house felt strangely empty. Seungcheol and Jihoon flopped onto the sofa, too full with cake to even consider moving.

“So,” Jihoon said after a bit, “I’m a stripper huh?”

Seungcheol laughed and shoved him to the side, “I panicked.” After a beat of amused silence, he groaned. “They’re never going to forget my whole sex addiction thing.” he bemoaned. “Seungkwan’s probably going to let the whole office know by tomorrow.”

“It’s okay.” Jihoon placated, grinning “Tell them your stripped boyfriend has it in control.”

“I actually hate you. Why are you even here? Don’t you have something more important to do?”

“Nope,” Jihoon said, popping the p

“I regret everything.” Seungcheol groaned, shoving his head between his hand, ears a deep share of red.

Jihoon laughed, teasing him about his blush and the two settled into comfortable conversation, talking about the day that had passed.

“I have a question,” Jihoon started. He hesitated. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Seungcheol shrugged, “Shoot.”

“Seungkwan and the others, they’re great and they obviously care about you a lot, right?”

Seungcheol nodded seriously, “I’m very lucky to have them,” he explained. “I couldn’t imagine being where I am without them.”

“So then,” Jihoon trailed off. “How come you literally made a deal with the devil if you already have such a great friend circle?”

“Hey.” Seungcheol teased. “You’re not the devil. You have baby horns.”

Jihoon made his eyes turn black and glared at Seuncheol. “They’re not baby horns,” Jihoon muttered defensively. He flattened his hair to make the horns look larger. “Also, don’t change the subject you dick.”

Seungcheol laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t know.” he replied, biting his lip. “They’re great and I love them to pieces but,” he sighed before continuing. “We’ve all gotten so much busier and I can’t help but feel like I’m bothering them sometimes. I know I’m not but.” He paused again. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted the easier option of making a friend that I could call whenever I need.”

“So, your solution was to make a deal with the demon rather than, I don’t know, actually go out and make friends? with humans?”

Seungcheol groaned, “I’m really impulsive.” he sighed. And then he looked over at Jihoon, his gaze soft and full of endearment. “I think it worked out pretty well though.” he said softly.

Jihoon could feel his cheeks warming up but he forced himself to hold Seungcheol’s gaze. “Yeah.” He replied, “I think so too.”

Seungcheol smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling, pearl white teeth showing. _Fuck_ , Jihoon thought, unable to tear his eyes away from him. _I’m so into this guy_.

\---

When Jihoon finally said goodbye to Seuncheol, he apparated to Joshua’s flat instead of his own. He rang the doorbell twice, three times, four times until a groggy and disoriented Joshua opened the door in batman pajamas and sleep mussed hair.

“What the fuck.” Joshua said. “It’s literally 3am.”

“I think I like the human.” Jihoon replied, and Joshua must have seen the panicked haze in his eyes. He stepped aside and let Jihoon into the flat without a word, closing the door softly behind him.

“Okay,” Joshua said, “I’m going to make us some tea, and you’re going to tell me what happened.”

Jihoon nodded, sitting on the couch and dropping his head into his arms. Joshua busied himself in the kitchen and before long, he sat beside Jihoon and pressed a cup of hot tea into his hands. Jihoon took a sip and winced at the sweetness- apple and cinnamon tea. Joshua always loved the sweet ones.

“So,” Joshua said calmly, “you like the human.”

“Very much.” Jihoon replied. “Fuck Joshua, it’s like I can’t even look at the man without wanting to hold his hand or some shit. Its gross. He looked me in the eye a while back and I almost proposed to him on the spot.”

Joshua’s lips curved upwards in amusement. “Okay, so you’re completely whipped for the human. So what?”

“What do you mean so what?” Jihoon hissed, eyes turning black. “I’m a demon, he’s a human. There’s no way this is allowed.”

“We’re demons Jihoon.” Joshua laughed. “We’re not the best at following rules.”

“Still,” Jihoon spluttered. “There’s no way it’d work.”

Joshua huffed, “Don’t say that shit until you’ve tried it, you never know.”

“Okay you’re just trying to make me feel better.” he hissed. “I’m sure you don’t have a problem with your Jeonghan guy. He’s probably a high-ranking demon.”

“Jihoon- “

“-probably has a great career ahead of him, well feared within the community.”

“Jihoon.” Joshua said loudly, grabbing his shoulders to make him stop talking.

“What?” Jihoon hissed

“Jeonghan’s an angel.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he’s sweet to you, you really shouldn’t shove your gross domesticity right in my face right now.”

“You dumb bitch.” Joshua groaned, lightly hitting Jihoon on his head, making the other demon glare at him. “Jeonghan is an actual anger. Gifted powers by god angel guarding the pearly fucking gates of heaven kind of angel.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened almost comically he opened his mouth and then closed it again. And the opened it again, lost for words.

“You look ridiculous doing that,” Joshua huffed, “Close your mouth, for fucks sake.”

“I... - I just- “Jihoon paused, eyes brows furrowing. “How?”

Joshua shrugged. “Remember how I had to go to Paris to tempt a pastor’s son? Jeonghan was appointed there to bring the boy into the light. Everything I did, every seed of doubt and lustful thought that I put into the kid was removed and reproved by Jeonghan. It got so fucking annoying that the next time I saw him, I performed a little trick to give him neon green brows. One thing led to another and we ended up sleeping with each other.”

“As one does.” Jihoon replied, wide-eyed.

“My point,” Joshua said loudly, “is that it’s okay for you to like the human. There’s nothing in the rules about inter-special relationships you know. Its actually getting really common nowadays. Times are changing”

“Oh yeah?” Jihoon said spitefully, “Name one other demon that’s in an inter-special relationship.”

“Wonwoo? He’s literally dating an angel called Mingyu.”

“Wonwoo’s dating someone ??” Jihoon spluttered, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“He literally announced it during karaoke night like three months ago? He never shuts up about Mingyu? He spent a whole hour talking about how clumsy Mingyu is the other day?”

“I thought he was talking about his dog.” Jihoon groaned, burying his head in his hands.

“It’s not my fault you’re dumb as fuck.” Joshua intoned. Jihoon silently flipped him off.

“So like, this is… it's not a bad thing?” Jihoon asked, self-conscious.

“It’s not,” Joshua replied firmly. “It takes a little bit more effort but,” Joshua paused, smiling softly, “I think it’s worth it.”

“I- “, Jihoon started and then huffed. “If I were to... pursue this, how would I do it?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Joshua laughed. He grabbed Jihoon by the shoulders. “You have to woo him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> literally so many things I love about this chapter lmao lets get right into it-  
> \- Vernon thinking jihoons a burglar lmaooo  
> \- Jihoon being SHUSHED by Seungwan TWICE omg i live for demon jihoon getting offended by a human shushing at him.  
> \- Everyone thinking they're together and jihoon and seuncheol just being like hahahha no we're just bros. best buds. bros.  
> \- And then getting all soft and mushy during the birthday cake scene lmao bros my foot.  
> \- Okay but the strip club thing. i don't even need to say anything cause we all know that was hilarious.  
> \- Vernon being genuinely concerned about seungcheol getting erectile dysfunction LOL  
> \- Seungcheol and Jihoon bonding !!!!! talking about the actual reason that seungcheol made this meal !!!!! character development !!!!! we love to see it.  
> \- “Hey.” Seungcheol teased. “You’re not the devil. You have baby horns.” -- this just in: I'm hilarious  
> \- Seungcheol getting shy and worrying about bothering the other boys :((((((  
> \- but on a similar note, let's not forget that seungcheiol basically made this deal just because he's "really impulsive" lmao same  
> \- the whole jihoon x joshua interaction. my favourite thing ever  
> \- “Fuck Joshua, it’s like I can’t even look at the man without wanting to hold his hand or some shit. Its gross. He looked me in the eye a while back and I almost proposed to him on the spot.” SORRY BUT THATS SO FREAKING CUTE.  
> \- Joshua calling Jihoon a dumb fuck about the whole jeonghan thing >>>>>>>>>>>>>  
> \- JEONGHANS AN ANGEL !!! i mean wbk  
> \- Not @ sneaking meanie in wherever i can.  
> \- So the next chapters gonna be about jihoon woo-ing Seung Cheol ?? hmm wonder how thats going to go ;))))))))))))
> 
> AS always, don't forget to drop a comment and tell me what you thought !!!!! I'd love to know what your favourite parts were :))))


	4. Chapter 4 - In which Jihoon tries something new

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dudes, I'm back. Sorry for disappearing but its probably definitely gonna happen again lmao sorry.   
> But !!! here's some Jicheol fluff and also angst !!!!!!! till then

CHAPTER 4 – in which Jihoon tries something new

Jihoon thought long and hand about what Jeonghan had told him the other day. Would it really be that easy to just... make a move? He’d woo-ed other demons before and it had all worked out terrifically. Jihoon had heard about inter-special relationships before, but he never pictured himself in one. It was one of those things that he never had a problem with other people doing but him? personally? After being in denial of liking the other human for so long, he was hesitant to admit that he was actually attracted to him. In reality, he wanted to meet the rest of Seungcheol’s friends and play with his hair and take him to nice places. So, after over a week of painfully pining after Seuncheol, Jihoon decided to follow Jeonghan advice. All he had to do was woo the human. How hard could that be?

The next day, Seungcheol tripped when trying to leave his apartment for work. Looking down, he saw a bouquet of roses laying on the floor outside his door with a card attached to it. Frowning, he picked it up and brought it inside. The flowers were pretty, pure red and in full bloom. But when he read what was written in the card and his face turned pale. He shuddered, looking around hastily before throwing the paper on the ground and rushing out of his apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him.

The whole way down, he was paranoid, on the lookout for anything out of the usual. When he left the building, he stopped short in his tracks. There, right on the side of his dingy apartment condo was a brand-new black Ferrari, a flamboyant red bow tied on the front. On a card next to it, the words “To Choi Seungcheol. From – Your secret admirer” were written out in newspaper fonts.

Seungcheol gulped and raced to work in his own car, looking around wildly the whole way. Racing up to his floor, he flung the door to his department open and screeched out “I think someone’s stalking me.”

No one said a word, everyone stopping their work to openly turn and stare at him.

Soonyoung jumped up from his chair and grabbed Seuncheol by the hand, dragging him away from everyone’s probing stares. Junhui followed behind, shooting polite smiles at all his confused co-workers.

“What the heck are you talking about?” Soonyoung demanded in the hallway. “You can’t say that stuff aloud.”

“I’m serious.” Seuncheol gaped. 

“Look,” Junhui placated, “It's not that we don’t believe you. It's just that you are known to be quite… overdramatic sometimes.”

“Excuse me sir but I’ve never been overdramatic before in my entire life.”

Soonyong rolled his eyes, “You’re always overdramatic.”

“Remember when you were trying to flirt with our Starbucks cashier and asked him to marry you?” Jun asked, an eyebrow raised.

“And the time you walked 5 miles in the middle of a storm to get a burger from Arby’s?” Soonyoung chimed in

“Or the time you –“

“Okay I get it,” Seuncheol huffed. “But I'm serious this time.”

“Let's start from the beginning, why do you think you're being stalked?”

“This morning,” Seuncheol started, “someone left a bouquet of flowers outside my door. The card on the flowers had the creepiest thing written on it.” Seungcheol’s voice dropped to a whisper and the other two leaned closer, completely entranced. “it said: someday, the two of us will be one- your secret admirer. “

“Okay,” Soonyoung said, swallowing. “That is a little creepy.”

“A little ?” Junhui exclaimed, “fuck Seungcheol it sounds like this admirer wants to peel off your skin and wear it.”

“There’s more though,” Seuncheol said insistently. “When I went down, there was a fucking Ferrari parked right next to my place, addressed to me.” Jun’s mouth dropped open. “What the heck am I supposed to do?”

“you need to report this to the police” Soonyoung said, grabbing his hand

“I mean,” Junhui started. “Let’s think about this rationally. This guy’s rich enough to buy you a Ferrari. I don’t care how creepy he is but that’s definitely husband material.”

Seuncheol completely ignored Jun, “I’m going to wait a little more and if it becomes worse, I’ll go to the police about it.”

“that’s such a white-girl-in-a-horror-movie thing to do you dumbass” Soonyoung chastised. “You should go to them now”

Seungcheol bit his lip and then sighed. “Listen,” he said. “I have a meeting in like an hour. After that, I’ll go to the police.”

When Seungcheol got back to his cubicle (pointedly ignoring all his colleagues staring at him after his outburst earlier), he frowned when he saw a bar of wrapped chocolate lying beside his computer. He heaved out a sigh. Doesn’t his stalker have better things to do than go around buying him chocolates and cars? Hesitantly, he lifted the chocolate bar by the edge of its wrapper and stared at it diligently. 

It looked like a regular bar of chocolate but Seuncheol decided firmly that he could never be too sure. He brought the chocolate bar up to his face and gave it a few deep sniffs for good measure. The regular smell of plastic packaging and deep chocolate filled his nose. He looked around all the edges of the wrapper but found it to be sealed thoroughly. He was considering taking the chocolate to a lab to make sure it wasn’t laced when someone from beside him cleared their throat loudly.

Seuncheol jerked upwards only to realize that the whole office was staring at him sniff the bar of chocolate and stare at it. ears burning, Seuncheol collapsed into his seat, shooting a tentative smile at his cubicle neighbour, Jinyoung. Jinyoung forced a smile back and inched away from him, a strained smile still in place. The poor man moved backwards till he was at the edge of his cubicle and almost falling out of his chair.

Seuncheol huffed in frustration, cursing his stalker in his head. Jinyoung was a nice man that Seuncheol was good friends with but now he thought Seuncheol was a chocolate sniffing pervert. There goes whatever was left of his reputation. Seuncheol gave up and unwrapped the chocolate, tossing a piece in his mouth. If the chocolate was laced, this would be a good time for it to take effect and for Seuncheol to drop dead.

But the chocolate wasn’t laced (as far as Seuncheol could tell). It was rich and dark, just the way Seuncheol liked it. Seungcheol wasn’t even mad anymore, the chocolate was that good. Curiously, he glanced at the label to confirm that it was from some posh swiss brand. He ate the last piece of chocolate and dropped the wrapper into his desk drawer for later.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jinyoung stare as he stored the wrapper in his desk. Great, now Jinyoung thought Seuncheol was a hoarder as well.

He smiled at Jinyoung, trying to diffuse the situation, “Its good chocolate.” he tried to explain.

Jinyoung let out a nervous laugh, “I’m sure it was.” he muttered, inching his chair further away from Seuncheol.

Well, that didn’t work.

Seuncheol silently looked back at his own desk and started preparing for his meeting.

-

Halfway through his meeting, just s Seuncheol started explaining the profit of the year, one of the executives who was facing the windows let out a loud gasp and fell off his chair.

“The profit isn’t that low, Mr Lee.” Seuncheol tried to placate him. “We actually did better than we did last year.”

Mr Lee shook his head, pointing a shaking finger towards the window.

Seuncheol sighed, preparing himself for the worst before turning towards the window.

He didn’t prepare himself well enough.

Right outside the window, a large float in the shape of aa pink heart hung. The words, “I adore you, I long to have you close” inscribed on it in a fancy slanting font. Seuncheol cursed out loud and one of the executives glared at him.

“Oh, sorry sir, slip of tongue.” Seuncheol said, flustered and bowing. The executive shot him one last glare before turning back to stare at the huge float outside the company window

After another silent moment of gaping, one of the executives sighed. “This is why I never leave the house”, he muttered. Seuncheol felt a deep sense of pity for the man. Poor guy.

“Let’s wrap up for today.” Another man said, fixing his tie tiredly, “I’m too old for this.”

The other executives nodded in agreement and silently filed out of the meeting room, Seuncheol following dully behind.

By the time he reached home, he was exhausted. Dealing with creepy stalkers and floating proclamations of love was not what he had expected to deal with but life was weird like that sometimes. He just wanted to crack open a beer and watch some shitty kdrama for the rest of the evening.

But when he opened the door to his apartment, something made him stop short. That something being a dried human skull placed neatly on the centre of his dining table, surrounded by white roses. Seuncheol stared at the skull, too shocked to do anything except gape. He rubbed his eyes but when he opened them again, the same sight greeted him.

“I’m too tired for this.” Seuncheol muttered, running a hand through his hair. He walked into the kitchen muttering profanities to himself and pulled out a box of matches. “The police won’t be able to help me.” he decided firmly, “I need to contact someone that can actually catch this guy.”

He lit a fire and blew it out with all the force he could muster. Within seconds, a startled Jihoon appeared in front of him.

You will not believe the day I’ve just had, Seuncheol started, not letting Jihoon get a word in. Seuncheol grabbed Jihoon by the sleeve and plopped him down on the sofa and then started to pace back and forth.

“So in the morning, just as I was going to leave, I tripped on some flowers left there by a ‘secret admirer’ with literally the creepiest note attached to it.”

“Creepy ?” Jihoon wondered, confused, “I think it’s a sweet symbol.”

But Seuncheol continued, barely noticing that Jihoon was talking. “And when I went down, there was a black Ferrari parked outside my apartment addressed to me? An actual sports car? can you believe it? It was from the same ‘secret admirer’”

“That sounds pretty great.” Jihoon said, his chest puffing out. “Such a nice thing to do.”

“AND THEN” Seuncheol continued, barely heeding the other man’s words, “I got to work and there was a piece of chocolate right in my cubicle which means that my ‘admirer’ knows where I sit.” Seuncheol paused his rant. “It was pretty good chocolate,” he admitted, making Jihoon smile to himself, “but that's beyond the point. The admirer probably was stalking me for god knows how long to know where I sit. And Later, during a meeting, a huge ass pink float showed up right outside addressed to me.”

“That one took a long time to pull off.” Jihoon chuckled. “You’d never believe-“

“We had to cut the meeting short,” Seuncheol continued, groaning in frustration. “And then I reach home and you’ll never guess what I saw? a human skull Jihoon. A whole skull, surrounded by white rose petals.”

“Well of course,” Jihoon replied with a laugh. “Its tradition.”

“What I’m trying to tell you is that I have a stalker and I need your help!”

“Well, of course, I- wait what?”

“The Stalker, Jihoon!!” Seungcheol explained, flapping his arms around. “We need to catch him.”

“Maybe there’s another explanation?” Jihoon tried to say

“Jihoon,” Seuncheol interrupted, voice rising slightly. “I’ve had the longest day of my life today. I’m confused, tired and I just want to get this whole thing done with. The person doing this obviously has no concept of privacy and personal space, it’s ridiculous. I need to stop this before it goes any further.”

Jihoon was uncharacteristically quiet throughout Seungcheol’s outburst. When Seuncheol angrily plopped himself on the sofa next to him after his rant, Jihoon moved slightly away from the human, head hung low and ears pink. Hands fiddling with the hem of his sweater.

“I think I have something to tell you.” Jihoon said quietly, head still bent low. “The person that sent all of that to you was… me.”

“This really isn’t the time for jokes Jihoon.” Seungcheol huffed, and Jihoon could feel the frustration rolling off him. The air around Seungcheol smelt like burnt paper and fiery hot tar. Jihoon sighed a soft sigh, sadness and disappointment weaving through him. This hadn’t gone according to plan at all. He should have known that courting humans wouldn’t be the same as demons. His face was red with embarrassment and he didn’t feel smart or clever for what he had done. He just felt stupid and clueless.

“I’m not joking.” Jihoon said quietly, still not looking at Seungcheol.” I was trying to court you but I guess it didn’t go according to plan.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Seungcheol said aggressively, “You’re not making any sense right now.”

Jihoon closed his eyes harshly, willing his tears away. The lump in his throat made everything so much harder but Jihoon had to open his eyes and tell Seungcheol the truth. This isn’t how Jihoon thought his confession would go. But life’s never really worked out for Jihoon before so what else did he expect. He should have seen this coming, should have lived the rest of his life fighting the urge to hold Seungcheol’s hand or poke his checks because then at least Jihoon would have had him as a friend.

“I like you,” Jihoon said, eyes open and looking right at Seungcheol. Looking as the humans face shifting from irritation to confusion. Forced himself to watch as he continued talking. “Within demon culture, when we like someone, we court them. Usually, this involves doing big massive displays of affection to stand out from other demons. That’s what the Ferrari and the pink float was about. The flowers were tradition. It’s usually the way a demon starts his courting. And the human skull was also tradition, symbolism of the demonic form of ‘till death do us apart’. And the white rose petals are a symbol as well. During ancient times, they were used to tell someone that you adore them and that they’re heavenly. I didn’t realise human courting would be different from the demon way but I never would have thought that they would be so unlike.” Jihoon hung his head in shame, unable to look at Seungcheol anymore. The human's face was shrouded by confusion but also anger, a simmer of frustration that was bubbling underneath everything. Jihoon could feel it, smell it, taste it. He was so in tune to the human's senses that it almost overpowered him.

“I’m really sorry. I should have known.” He finished

A beat of silence.

“Yeah.” Seungcheol said stiffly, “You should have.”

Jihoon fought back tears again. Obviously, he hadn’t expected Seungcheol to accept his feelings but Seungcheol was being cold now, looking at Jihoon like he didn’t know who he was. Jihoon bent forward, his whole body on fire. With his face burning and his throat closed, he wondered with horror if this is what it was like to _feel_. Catharsis. Being unravelled and left out in the open, vulnerable and unable to stop the blows as they hit you where it hurts most. ‘ _Tell me you don’t hate me_ ’ Jihoon begged with his body, forcing his eyes to stay open.

“I think you should go.” Seungcheol said stiffly, hands held rigidly at his sides.

“Can’t we work this out.” Jihoon croaked out. “Look, I know that we didn’t start off on the right foot but I’m willing to learn. I want to try, just please don’t run away like this.”

“Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through today?” Seungcheol snapped, patience wearing thin, Jihoon curled in on himself, startled and hurt. “What did you think? That was going to see a human skull on my kitchen table to be ecstatic? It doesn’t take much to figure out that I would have freaked out at that. I spent the whole day paranoid and jumpy and everyone in my office thinks I’m some kind of freak now.” He spat out. “Fuck Jihoon, you should have just signed your name at the bottom of that paper, why go with the whole ‘secret admirer’ bullshit. How do you expect to date me what you don’t know the first thing about humans?”

Jihoon stood up, knees weak and face wet with tears. Hair ruffled and palms red from digging his nails into them. “Okay.” Jihoon said, rubbing at one of his eyes. He looked up at Seungcheol, voice wavering. “I understand. I’ll leave. I’m really, really sorry for the inconvenience I’ve caused.”

Seuncheol looked away from him, jaw locked tight. He heard a rustling from Jihoon and then nothing. The demon had apparated away. Seuncheol looked around the empty apartment and felt the ridiculous urge to scream out loud and pierce the heavy silence that shrouded the place. But there was also another urge, the urge to break down and cry, to call Jihoon back and apologize for snapping. To tell Jihoon that Seungcheol was willing to try as well.

But the anger and frustration won out. Despite housing a crush on Jihoon for so long, the way Jihoon had courted him proved that there was no way a demon and a human could be together and truly understand each other. They were two opposite sides, two different beings.

Seuncheol shook his head and blinked his tears away. He couldn’t break down. he didn’t want to give Jihoon that kind of power over him.

Instead, he grabbed a trash bag and piled all the letters that he had received from his ‘secret admirer’ into it along with the human’s skull and the flowers. ‘I didn’t need this.’ he tried to convince himself. ‘I’m going to be okay.’

But why did it feel like he was losing something important?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aight so i just wanna let yall know that I'm going through some serious writers block rn and i hate almost every word i wrote in the first part of the ch but that's okay cause we love ourselves in this house and accept suckery as part of growth   
> Anyways i have some important things to say   
> \- The whole scene between Jihoon and Jinyoung and the chocolate thing ??? Listen, idc what anyone has to say im hilarous.   
> \- “Remember when you were trying to flirt with our Starbucks cashier and asked him to marry you?” Jun asked, an eyebrow raised. WHY IS THAT SOMETHING ID DEADASS TOTALLY DO   
> \- I should stop doing these ending note things smh my Leo is showing   
> \- Anyways   
> \- "This guy’s rich enough to buy you a Ferrari. I don’t care how creepy he is but that’s definitely husband material.” -- 17s JUNHUI : A loving relationship ? in THIS economy ????   
> \- Angst :((((((( sad jihoon :(((((((((( Seungcheols yelling :((((((( mutual pining :((((((((   
> \- Me trying to write crack but ending up being angsty as fuck rip  
> \- With his face burning and his throat closed, he wondered with horror if this is what it was like to feel. Catharsis. Being unravelled and left out in the open, vulnerable and unable to stop the blows as they hit you where it hurts most. ‘Tell me you don’t hate me’ Jihoon begged with his body, forcing his eyes to stay open.  
> “I think you should go.” Seungcheol said stiffly, hands held rigidly at his sides.  
> MY HEART WAS LITERALLY BREAKING WHEN I WAS WRITING THIS EVEN THO I LITERALLY KNEW IT WAS GONNA HAPPEN WTF  
> \- angst :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( 
> 
> Anyways find me on my twt (Its really late at night and I'm too lazy to make a hyperlink so its @confused_cheol)  
> Also please please please leave some comments and let me know what you thought !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	5. Chapter 5- In which they make things right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did i just disappear for a whole month (I think) ???? absolutely   
> Am I going to do it again ??? absolutely lol   
> Anyways have fun w this chapter !!!!!! warnings for angst and tears lmao

Joshua woke up to a series of panicked knocks. He stirred, turning away from the comfortable body he was curled up next to. Willing the noise away, he tried to go back to sleep but the knocking continued, loud and persistent. Grumbling, he rolled out of bed, cast a last regretful look at how comfortable his bed looked and walked to open the door.

“Jihoon?” Joshua asked, confused. “What the heck is up with you and coming over at the weirdest times?”

The other demon looked terrible. His hair was disheveled, eyes bloodshot and lips bitten and cracked.

“Are you okay?” Joshua asked, doing a quick once-over. “Shit, did something happen.”

Jihoon seemed to curl up on himself, not even meeting Joshua’s glance.

Joshua sighed, “Come in.” he said, moving aside

“I’m sorry for showing up this late.” Jihoon muttered

Joshua huffed and went to grab some tea. Green tea seemed like the perfect choice, soothing and familiar. “We went through demon initiation together. We have each other’s back, remember? doesn’t matter what ungodly hour you need me, ill be there.”

“God, you’re such a sap. Gross.”

“I won’t hesitate to kick you out bitch don’t try me.”

Jihoon forced out a laugh, dry and humorless and Joshua’s heart sank. He had never seen Jihoon like this before. He was usually so tough and indifferent and nothing seemed to pierce that exterior of his. But now, he seemed so haunted and Joshua almost didn’t want to know what happened to make lee Jihoon look like his world is breaking apart.

Joshua placed a cup of green tea in front of Jihoon and the demon grabbed it immediately, taking a large sip and burning his tongue in the process. Unbothered, he took another sip.

“Slow down.” Joshua exclaimed, horrified. “I just boiled that water, you’re hurting yourself.”

Jihoon looked up at him, eyes red and on the verge of tears. A drop of green tea, still steaming, dripped off his lips. “I just need to focus on something other than the pain inside.” He rasped, voice raw.

Joshua stared in horror as Jihoon brought the cup to his lips and opened his mouth to take a big gulp of the steaming g liquid. But then, his hand stopped halfway as though something was forcing it back. Jihoon stared incredulously at his hand and tried to bring the cup up to his lips again but instead, the cup was placed gently back on the table.

“None of that now,” said a dreamy voice from beside them. “Running away isn’t going to solve anything.”

Jihoon turned to see a beautiful man leaning against the wall. His hair was white blond and his face was filled with self-indulgent features that hinted at a lazy kind of beauty. Soft cheekbones, luscious lips and a gentle slope of his nose.

“Angel,” Jihoon breathed in recognition. The pearly grow around the Angel’s face brightened at the word. Jihoon turned to Joshua, “is this…?”

“Jihoon, meet Jeonghan. Jeonghan, this is Jihoon.”

“I figured that much” the angel said softly. He floated into the room, sitting down softly next to Joshua on the sofa. “It seems like our meeting isn’t under the happiest circumstances though.”

Jihoon shook his head stubbornly, “I’m fine.” he insisted. It’s nothing big.”

Joshua snorted. “You say a lot of dumb shit but that’s got to be the stupidest thing you’ve ever said. Stop dealing with everything by yourself you dumbass.”

Jeonghan placed a hand on Joshua knees and he calmed down instantly, eyes growing soft.

“What’s wrong, demon?” Jeonghan asked kindly. 

Jihoon felt tears burning on his eyes, begging to be let out. He swallowed once, twice, but his throat was still sore as sandpaper and Jihoon still didn’t know the right words to say.

“I tried courting the human.” Jihoon said. “He… wasn’t appreciative.”

“Oh sweetie,” Joshua said softly. Jihoon heard some rustling from where Joshua was sitting and then the sofa dipped next to Jihoon. Joshua’s arm came around Jihoon’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry”

“He said that I was nothing but an inconvenience and that there was no way a human and a demon could be together.” Jihoon sobbed. He felt Joshua’s hand tighten around him. “I feel so stupid now and-“ Jihoon cut himself off, rubbing his eyes and sobbing.

It had been too long since the last time Jihoon cried like this. Ugly crying with snot running down his face and his eyes turning red. He felt Jeonghan place a reassuring hand on his back but that just made him cry harder until his throat was parched and his face hurt. Eventually, he started to dry sob, the cries heaving through his body.

Somewhere along the way, Jeonghan must have magic-ed him to fall into a dreamless sleep because the next thing Jihoon knew, it was the next morning and he was curled up on Joshua’s bed. His throat was still sore and his stomach hurt but he felt leagues better than he had felt the previous night.

There was a note on the bedside table, telling Jihoon to rest for the day and that Joshua would cover for him in the office. Jihoon smiled fondly at the note, filled with gratitude. Joshua was right, they had each other’s back.

The clock read 12:53. Jihoon groaned and flopped back onto the bed. He had been asleep for over 10 hours, but why did he still feel exhausted. He wanted to ignore everything else and go back to sleep but he had bodily needs to tend to. His stomach rumbled and Jihoon dragged himself out of the bed.

It was going to take time for Jihoon to feel better, he knew that. Lots of time. He would just have to push through until that time came. 

\---

Seungcheol’s POV

Seungkwan was peering at him weirdly.

Vernon was singing a raspy cover of ‘Let’s not fall in love’ by Big Bang and Minghao was taking a video of him, snickering the whole time. The karaoke room was filled with light and laughter but Seungkwan hadn’t looked away from Seungcheol from a whole 15 minutes now and Seungcheol was starting to get a little creeped out. He stared back at Seungkwan hoping he would intimidate the other man but Seungkwan just squinted his eyes and stared harder.

Seuncheol gave up first, huffing loudly. “What’s wrong with you?” He exclaimed.

“I could ask you the same question.” Seungkwan shot back. “You called us out for a karaoke night but you’ve barely sung or eaten anything and you’ve only spoken like 5 words in total the whole evening.”

“Pretty sure that’s an over-exaggeration kwan.”

“No it's not,” Vernon cut in and Minghao nodded affirmatively. “You seem really down today, Hyung.”

“Why would I be down?” Seungcheol scoffed

“Cheol-ah, did you break up with Jihoon ?”

Seungcheol stopped breathing for a second. “None of your business.” he replied curtly.

Seungkwan signed sadly, “Is that what this is? stop trying to run from this Seuncheol, you’re obviously hurting. Please talk to us about this.”

“I’m good, thanks.” Seuncheol replied, jaw locking.

“You barely talk to us anymore,” Minghao pouted. “We always have to initiate a conversation or a hangout.”

“You guys are the ones that are always busy.” Seungcheol spluttered, suddenly defensive. “This whole mess started because we never hung out properly together.”

“What mess?” Vernon asked, “And what are you talking about? You’re the one that keeps cancelling plans and not showing up last minute. You only talk to us for like five minutes over call and you barely ever text on the group chat. You have _no right_ to talk as though we’re shutting you out when you’ve been the one shutting yourself out this whole time.”

“I’m doing my best.” Seungcheol replied, voice rising.

“No, you’re not.” Vernon huffed. “You always talk like the whole world against you but you're the one not accepting help from anyone else.”

“Mine and Jihoon’s relationship has nothing to do with you.” Seuncheol yelled.

Vernon stared at him angrily. “Fine,” he said. “Be like that. Act like a child and shut out everyone that tries to help you. I’m leaving”

“Wait-“

But Vernon had already grabbed his bag and was heading out of the room, BigBang still playing in the background.

Minghao sighed. “Ill try to talk to him”. He said. “But Vernon’s got a point. You need to figure your shit out. Either let us in or keep us out.” Minghao hesitated. “We care about you hyung. More than anything. Especially Vernon. Don’t force us out when we want to be part of your life.”

And then Minghao was turning and walked away as well, eyes sad and hallow, a spitting image of Jihoons eyes the night before and Seungcheol couldn’t help but wonder why he seems to ruin everything he loves.

Seungwkan touched his arm softly. “They’ll be back.” He said, staring right at Seungcheol. “They’re just hurt.”

“I’ve never-“ Seungcheol started “I’ve never cut you off.”

“Not intentionally,” Seungkwan said softly. “We don’t blame you Cheol-ah. We just miss you. We wish you’d lean on us the way we lean on you. You don’t have to fight things alone.”

Seuncheol was dumbfounded. This whole time when Seungcheol thought that the others were growing busy, was it just him who was growing less appreciative of his friends? More closed off? he remembered cancelling on nights outs and hanging up on group calls for the smallest of reasons, remembered how he barely even opens the group chat except to mark the messages as read. He had almost forgotten Vernon’s birthday and had only stayed for half the night during Seungkwan birthday.

Guilt rose up inside Seungcheol, so fierce that he almost couldn’t breathe. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, horrified. “I never even noticed. I-“

“I don’t blame you for this,” Seungkwan said simply. “I’m not going to hold it against you. Neither are the other boys. We just want you to be a little more involved.”

Seungcheol was silent, the events of the last few minutes and the night before making him feel like his bones were dragging him down. “I think I really messed up with Jihoon,” Seuncheol whispered, wanting nothing more than the demon’s presence 

“So fix it.”

“But what if it doesn’t work? What if we’re too different for each other?”

“Let me ask you a question Seungcheol. Do you like him?”

Seungcheol was silent. “I like him more than I planned on.” He said finally. “I think I like him a bit too much. Sometimes-” Seungcheol shook his head. “Sometimes he’s all I think about.”

“And does he like you?”

Seuncheol remembered the events of the previous day, the way Jihoon had courted him using demon guidelines. The way he had broken down and told Seungcheol that he liked him. The quiet disappointment in Jihoon’s eyes when Seungcheol yelled at him.

“I think he likes me more than he planned on liking me as well.” _he wasn’t a coward about it though_ Seungcheol thought bitterly, filled with regret.

“Then it doesn’t matter.” Seungkwan replied. “If you like him this much and if he likes you back, then you’ll make it work. Despite your difference sand despite the fact that you messed up, the two of you will work through it. I know you will.”

“But how can you be so sure?” Seungcheol asked, fidgeting with his shirt.

“Because I saw the way you looked at each other that day. On your birthday. He looked at you like you hung every single star in the sky. And you looked at him the same way.”

Seungcheol closed his eyes, nostrils flaring in his attempt to control his tears. “I think you’re right, Seungcheol said. “But I’m so scared. What if he breaks my heart? Or even worse, what if I break his heart?”

Seungkwan was looking at him with a knowing grin. “You know what? For some reason, I don’t think that’ll happen.”

Seuncheol was still hesitant but talking to Seungkwan made him sort out his priorities. “I should have just done this sooner.” he groaned. He looked at Seungkwan, eyes turning apologetic. “I’m really sorry Kwan. I promise I won’t shut you guys out again.”

“That’s all we want to hear,” Seungkwan said placatingly. “You should go. Call Jihoon. I'll talk to the boys.”

Seungcheol nodded, drying his eyes. He stood up, “You’re right.” He looked around, lost. “Yeah okay.” he breathed out. “I'll do that.” He looked at Seungkwan hopefully, “I’ll see you later?” he asked

Seungkwan smiled, broad and toothy. “For sure.” he grinned.

Seuncheol grinned and ran out, his heart much lighter than it had been the whole day.

When Seungcheol reached his apartment, he rushed into the kitchen and grabbed the box of matches. He tried to light a match but it struck out because of his fumbling, hurried hands. He lit another one and this one stayed, bright and warming.

 _This is my last chance to turn back_ , Seungcheol thought, staring at the flame. _If I blow this out, there’s no going back._ He hesitated for a second and the flame dipped lower, eating the match as it burned. But then the moment of hesitation disappeared and Seungcheol closed his eyes and blew out the flame.

He heard a thump next to him but still, Seungcheol kept his eyes closed. Guilt and shame from the last time he saw Jihoon washed over him, making him screw his eyes closed even tighter.

“S- Seungcheol?” Jihoon asked tentatively

Seungcheol took a deep breath and opened his eyes slowly. Jihoon was standing a few inches away from him, hands wrapped around himself. After a moment, Seungcheol realized that the demon was wearing avengers themed pyjamas and in any other situation, it would have made Seungcheol smile and tease the other. But now, the air was thick with tension and both of them were staring at each other with lost eyes.

“Jihoon.” Seungcheol replied, voice equally hesitant. He cleared his throat. “I- we need to talk.”

Jihoon hung his head, clearly disappointed and apprehensive of what was to come. Seungcheol fought the huge lump of panic and fear in his throat and led Jihoon to the living room where they sat on opposite ends of a sofa. Jihoon stared at the space between them, obviously distraught before clearing his throat and looking back at the floor.

“Why did you call me here?” Jihoon asked, embarrassment and anger lacing his tone.

“I just,” Seungcheol stared. “I just wanted to apologize for yesterday.”

Jihoon head shot up and he stared at Seungcheol unbelievingly, eyes wide. “You’re... apologizing?”

God, Seungcheol felt like such an asshole. Jihoon had probably thought that he summoned him here to yell at him again.

“Even though you took me by surprise yesterday, that doesn’t give me an excuse for the things I said.” Seungcheol stared, voice more stable than he had expected. “I- I shouldn’t have said any of those things and I’m really sorry that I said it. you don’t deserve that.”

Jihoon fumbled in his seat, “Its okay.” He replied. “It was kind of my fault. I should have realized that human courting rituals and so different from the demon ones.”

Seungcheol shook his head, “That still doesn’t give me the excuse to talk to you like that. I was frustrated and I took it out on you. What I said wasn’t even close to what I should have said.”

Jihoon looked up at him, hesitation and hope in his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Well. . . I think I might take you up on your offer.”

Jihoon took a deep breath. “Seungcheol,” he said quietly. “I need you to be clear about what you mean. Cause right now you’re not making any sense and I don’t think ill be able to deal with getting my hopes up only for everything to come crashing down again.”

Seungcheol swallowed at the hurt in Jihoon’s voice, the raw way in which he spoke those words. Guilt rose in his throat again. Never again. He told himself. never again would he hurt Jihoon like that. Even if Jihoon rejected him and told him to fuck off, he would never cause Jihoon that kind of pain again.

“What I’m trying to say is that I’m willing to try.” Seungcheol said, voice confident. The words spilt out of his mouth as though they had been resting there for ages, waiting to be let out. Maybe they had. “I know I said what I said but I’ve had a lot of time to think and I just. I missed you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you jihoonie. And then I realized that it isn’t just now but all the time, even before yesterday. You’re always on my mind and I never realized it till now but something about you makes me,” his eyes softened. “Makes me so happy. You make me so happy.”

Jihoon was on the verge of tears, eyes wet and nose a light pink. “But yesterday,” Jihoon sniffled, “you said we were too different to ever work out.”

“I know but-“

“And you were right.” Jihoon exclaimed. “You’re a human and I’m a demon. I don’t even know about your courting rituals. How are we supposed to be happy with each other if we don’t know a thing about each other?”

“But we can learn !” Seungcheol replied and Jihoon let out a distressed wail, tears pouring freely down his cheeks.

“That what I said yesterday.” he cried put, voice cracking. “I said that yesterday and you told me to leave.” Jihoon broke down, wrapping his arms around himself. “You told me to leave.”

“Jihoonie…” Seungcheol trailed off, not knowing what to say. His mind flashed back to the words he had said yesterday, blow after blow that he could never take back. He needs to make this right but he didn’t know if he would be able to. Sometimes things get ruined beyond repair. And nothing scared Seungcheol more than the thought that his relationship with Jihoon is one of those things.

He inched toward Jihoon until they were sitting next to each other on the couch. He reached out, wanting to touch the demon but drew his hand back in the last moment. He needed to earn that right, the right to comfort Jihoon the right to fluff his hair and poke his cheeks and hold his hand.

“There’s no way we can know and understand each other properly.” Jihoon said after composing himself, voice calmer than it had been before.

“I already know you though,” Seungcheol said. “I know you. You like spicy food even though you can’t handle any like me. You love dogs. Remember that time we went to the park and you stopped to pet every single dog we met? You watch anything marvel related with a passion and you secretly want to learn how to play the piano. You cried while watching Attack on Titan. And I know that this may not seem like much but I now you Jihoon. And I know that you know me. And I think that’s enough. The things I said last night, he shook his head, I would do anything to take them back. But that wasn’t the truth. The truth is this – Lee Jihoon, I really really like you. And I want _us_ to be something, anything at all. I can’t imagine my life without you.”

Jihoon wasn’t crying anymore but his eyes were still wet. But he was smiling, a soft blush coating his cheeks. Slowly, tentatively he reached for Seungcheol’s hands and grasped them. “You don’t get to change your mind about this.” Jihoon said,

Seungcheol’s heart started to pound, a grin forming on his lips. He ran these thumb over every bit of Jihoon’s hands he could reach from the way Jihoon’s hands were holding his own. “I think ill be okay with that.” Seungcheol replied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AIGHT LETS DO THIS  
> \- this angst,,,,, i warned yall. Im deadass listening to a one hour loop of 'Moral of the story' as i type this just to match the mood  
> \- Joshua going from soft supposrtive friend to calling Jihoon a dumb bitch and thretening to kick him out,,, duality. we love to see it   
> -We met Jeonghan !!! finally !!!!!!!! an angel in every sense of the word.  
> -Sad Jihoon :((((((((((((((  
> \- Joshua saying he would cover for jihoon ar work lol I enjoy making the demon-verse as human as i can while also making it (obviously) non-human  
> \- Seungcheol !!!!!! okay so i really wanted to sort out the deal w seungcheol and his worries about troubling his friends cause i didnt wanna just leave that there without addressing it cause its literally the reason seungcheol summoned jihoon and also we love character development. I hope that scene made sense to all of you but i was just trying to project the fact that seungcheol was shutting himself out and wasn't really paying attention to the people around him. Obviously we dont support this but he learn his lesson and its never gonna happen again !!!!  
> \- "What if he breaks my heart? Or even worse, what if I break his heart?” - Cheol baby you're whipped  
> \- “But we can learn !” Seungcheol replied and Jihoon let out a distressed wail, tears pouring freely down his cheeks.  
> “That what I said yesterday.” he cried put, voice cracking. “I said that yesterday and you told me to leave.” Jihoon broke down, wrapping his arms around himself. “You told me to leave.” ------ p sure i started tearing up when i was writing this part.   
> \- But !!! its okay cause they decide to try !!!!! they're happy again !!!!!!!!! 
> 
> ANYWAYS please don't forget to comment and kudos!!!!! they really make my day. i hope you guys liked this chapter.


End file.
